


The Most Powerful Thirty-Year-Old In The Universe

by psocoptera



Series: Thirty Fic [9]
Category: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Genre: 30Fic, Gen, Secret Identity, lying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-20
Updated: 2007-12-20
Packaged: 2018-02-10 17:43:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2034174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psocoptera/pseuds/psocoptera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam always thought that someday the Sorceress would tell him it was time and he would reveal the fabulous secret powers to everybody.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Most Powerful Thirty-Year-Old In The Universe

Prince Adam was on his way to have breakfast with his parents when a many-armed creature crawled over the wall.

"It's ok," he told the cowering Cringer. He held aloft his mighty sword. "By the Power of Greyskull!" he proclaimed, and wrestled the creature until he was able to hurl it into a nearby lake.

By the time he made it to breakfast, his parents had finished eating. "I keep thinking that one of these mornings, you might be on time," his father said. "I stopped sleeping in late in my mid-twenties."

"Not today," Adam said, pretending to stretch and yawn. He hadn't slept in late since he'd gotten the Power Sword.

The day went on typically from there. Prince Adam was scheduled to meet with the Chancellor in the morning, but He-Man had to stop Slime-Man and his slug army from eating all of Eternia's vegetables. The Chancellor had left for his next appointment by the time he got all the slime off, leaving only a note asking Adam to _please_ inform him if his plans changed. Prince Adam was supposed to attend a lecture and present a medal at the Pilots' Guild, but He-Man had to rescue some miners from a collapsed cave, and Orko lost the medal when he went to fill in for him. Orko told him that he'd heard some Pilots say they'd ask for Stratos next year instead. Prince Adam tried to have dinner on the Guards' balcony with Teela, and Skeletor attacked with an enormous porcupine that shot its quills like javelins. They'd been right on the edge of the balcony and he had to turn and run past an entire company of the Royal Guard to get around the corner to transform, with Teela yelling "Adam, you coward!" at his back while she fought the porcupine. The Guard were too disciplined to say anything, but he heard hisses.

When Prince Adam came back after He-Man had dealt with the porcupine and chased off Skeletor, Teela had removed her tiara and was massaging her temples.

"I'm fine," she told him tiredly. "If you were wondering."

"I always thought I would get to tell you someday," Adam did not say to her. "I hated it that you thought I would abandon you when you were in danger. I thought that someday the Sorceress would tell me it was time and I'd reveal the fabulous secret powers and we would have a good laugh about it all."

"But it's really not funny, is it?" he still didn't say. "The years of lies, all the times I've left you? I thought his strength made up for what I was giving up. But He-Man and I, we're not two different people, we're not even each half a person. We add up to less than one. Even if I could tell you, it wouldn't be enough now."

He didn't say any of that. "Done with dinner?" he asked Teela, trying to flash her his best roguish grin. It was a bit pasted-on but she wouldn't look closely. "I think I've seen enough _porc_ for awhile." He remembered when his puns could still make her laugh, could still make her angry. "You know if you got _porked_ , I would _pine_..."

She looked away. "Adam..." she said. "Adam... grow up."

His mother found him on his way back to his room. "Lunch with the Noble Families tomorrow," she said, "Then we've got a school group coming in, and there's a briefing before dinner on some new science. Do you think you might make it to any of that?" She gave him a weak, resigned smile.

He smiled hopefully back and ducked into his room. He unslung the baldric from his back and sat down heavily on the bed.

"In today's show," Adam said to Cringer, "We saw how behavior that can be forgiven at twenty just looks pathetic at thirty, and how a compromise that you can accept at first may become unbearable with time." He stared blankly at the hilt of the Power Sword. "Remember, kids, _always_ have an exit strategy."


End file.
